The Shrine, the Marketplace and the Home: Forms of Lay Devotion in London during the Long Fifteenth Century (c.1370-c.1530)

Abstract

This thesis studies the production, trade and use devotional objects in London during the long fifteenth century (1370-1530). This period saw vibrant and complex developments in the creation and dissemination of devotional objects for the use of lay people. Among the most popular were alabaster carvings, books, jewellery, and pilgrimage badges. The Museum of London holds one of the world’s largest collections of pilgrim badges as well as of many other daily religious objects, from carvings to tiles, dress accessories such as beads, rings, and inkpots. This thesis was supported by a Collaborative Doctoral Award and the many opportunities it affords as a collaboration between QMUL and the Museum of London to analyse such a wide range of everyday objects. Alongside the surviving objects, this thesis reveals the wide range of documentary evidence available from the study of production and trade of cheap devotional objects in late medieval London. The London customs accounts record the imports liable to customs, and so they list by cargo tens of thousands of beads, images, paxes, figurines and more, imported in large part from the Low Countries. This abundant data, combined with a wide range of London civic records shows that the main group involved in this trade was the London Haberdashers, along with their alien counterparts. The thesis then considers the wide range of devotional objects associated with the culture of pilgrimage in later medieval England. Considering these objects from the standpoints of production and trade, the chapters re-evaluate and break down boundaries and typologies associated with objects, placing them within a broader culture of mass consumption by individuals of objects for daily use in home and in the public domain. Finally, the thesis considers how these material objects were used in parish churches that Londoners frequented. Churchwardens’ accounts showcase the varied use of devotional objects in the parish space. These accounts also reflect the wide-ranging forms of participation and interaction that parishioners, craftspeople, and merchants could have with such devotional materiality. The thesis concludes with an overview of the impact of the Reformation on the material culture of devotion in London. It argues that while this was a time of profound change, there were also important continuities in devotional materiality.